NATURAL MOM
by Blaise Gacoscos & Ana Pingol, YES!, May 2001

Sharon Cuneta is a big success. To describe her you have to tap the superlatives: Megastar, Grand-Slam Best, Actress, Box-Office Queen, Top-Selling Recording Artist, Crowd-Drawing Concert Performer, Highly-Paid Product Endorser, Multi-Awarded TV Host, A Pro.

Indeed, at 35, she is a true child of the media.

And now comes another field. Away from the camera, the talkative, well-mannered, highly-opinionated Sharon works just as hard at being an Amazing Wife and Loving Mother.

Is she a big success here?

See for yourself.

On the home front, she accepts that she is no longer the unchallenged megastar. These days that crown belongs to Simone Francesca.

"Na-dethrone kaming lahat!" laughs Sharon. "Ako nga na-dethrone sa Daddy ko nu'ng dumating si KC. Frankie is really the center of our lives now. But s'yempre, our two daughters are our jewels, they really are. But kumbaga, Frankie's the baby, she's the helpless one, she's the one who really lights up the whole household. All babies do, `di ba?"

Even Kristina Cassandra, whose 16-year reign as the family baby is finally over, is said to be enjoying her big0suster role.

"Oh, she adores her very much and loves her dearly," says Sharon about KC. "Kasi nga siguro ang laki ng agwat e. She even calls her `Buttons' because of the eyes. `Yung ang laki ng item? Ang ganda.

SHARON'S FAMOUS STAIRCASE with the framed Gregorian Chants. A Juan Luna original sits on an easel below the stairs.

The now five-month-old Frankie is adorably big for her age.

"Well, her Dad is a six-footer," Sharon muses. "In my family, my lolos, are all six footers. Pareho kami ng husband ko na may lolong Amerikano. His great grandfather is Kano, my great grandfather is Kano, so it comes out."

And what is Frankie like?

Take it from Mom: "Frankie is a very sweet, very good-natured, and very even-tempered baby. Pareho kami e. Pareho kaming sunshine kumbaga. Mabait pero kapag nagalit grabe! She doesn't cry often e but when she does cry, parang sinasaktan, ganu'n. `Yung aping-api! Ganu'n lang naman siya `pag naiinis. Tapos, tapos na."

This early, Frankie seems to be showing signs of what she could be in the future: a toss up between star or politician.

Sharon says, "One time, dinala ko siya sa ABS. Aba, lahat kinakausap niya. Tapos, pag-uwi sa bahay, ayun, pagod na pagod, humihilik. Napagod kaka-tsika. Ang cute! Saka kapag kinukuhanan ng picture, nakatingin siya sa camera!"

Joyous is an understatement when describing Sharon's mood these days. And Frankie must really be so good for her because she now wants a big family! She did not exactly think this way before.

"Non 'yon," she quips. "That's before I met my husband. And look naman at my daughter, she's so beautiful! Oh my God! Yes, of course, now I want more. I want to be pregnant again."

In two years she might just be.

SHARON IS THINKING of giving up her huge house with its many compartmentalized spaces to move to "a smaller house with a big, big garden." Photo shows her main living room.

"Before Frankie turns three. Para naman she has enough time to experience her pagiging baby," she says, all bubbly.

If given a choice, she wants a boy.

"I want a boy for Kiko. For his name... to carry his name."

Naturally, another pregnancy will mean less projects.

"Less projects, yes. Or siguro `yung projects na sunod-sunod and then you stop for like a year. Like what I'm doing now. It's like semi-retirement e. I'm not anymore so much a front-liner as I was many years ago na para kang nakikipagkarerahan."

But since it's for family, it's no problem for her.

"Remember Boston?" she goes on without prodding. "Nobody could believe I was giving up everything at that point. You know, I had like three to four movies in a year that I wasn't doing anymore. You know, it's a sacrifice but it was a happy decision I made. I would not exchange that year in Boston for any other time except now that Frankie's here na."

She adds, "I really just intend to be there for my two daughters. And the baby, I intend to bring her when I start shooting, as often as I can. I don't want to miss out on special moments. But really, I'm not going to be as busy as I was when KC was a baby. I'll probably have more time at home with the baby."

She feels Frankie deserves no less. Frankie is her answered prayer, after all. In her words: "Hulog ng Langit."

When Mommy Sharon let KC join friends in Boracay, she had her chaperoned by the yaya, the bodyguard and Lola Elaine...

Being mother to teenager KC, her daughter by former husband Gabby Concepcion, puts her on another track all together.

At 16, the International School tenth grader is learning to be independent, something Sharon welcomes. Why, KC's already talking about the possibility of studying college abroad! And when she brought it up, Sharon approved.

"Sa akin, mas malapit sana mas maganda, pero kung gusto nila abroad, I will not deprive them of those opportunities, `di ba? To grow, to get a good education, experience the world... Si KC, hindi pa nga lang siya decided on what college course to take." She laughs. "Ako nga, gusto kong mag-aral ulit, hindi rin ako maka-decide. Parang there's so much to learn and so little time."

Sharon is only too glad that show business is not in KC's list.

"She has no interest in joining the movies," says Sharon positively. "She likes singing but I don't think she looks at it as a career. She's interested in doing magazines."

Even TV and print commercials will have to wait, it seems. "May offers kami, pero ganito `yun.... `Mama, I don't like this.' `Why?' I don't use it.' So kahit milyon `yan, I'm sorry." She adds, with undisguised pride: "But you know, it's nice `pag nagaganyan siya. `Ba! I think I was able to instill a good... sense of... na parang hindi lahat pera... Ang galing eh!"

She continues, "KC is very happy academically and with her friends. And apparently, good influences naman sa kanya ang mga kaibigan niya. She likes being with people na hindi showbiz. She's enjoying what little is left of her anonymity."

Stunningly beautiful, KC is already hounded by suitors. But Sharon, herself a victim of "love" many times in the past, is surprisingly open-minded about it all.

"I'm very, very cool about manliligaws because I realized that's part of growing up. I mean, we were all in that age once, `di ba?," she says. "Yung aking lang, I always tell her, `We adjust to you, you also adjust to us because with a little freedom comes a lot of responsibility also on your part. And you're very young. Sometimes you might think that you know everything - like I did but it's not always that way."

At this point she laughs to recall how she was that way. Then says: "I also tell her, I would rather have her suitors come to the house para nakikilala namin. Turns out they're very, very decent boys... very good boys."

What about dating?

"Ah, kailangan may chaperone. Hindi p'wedeng sila lang, group lagi!"

Sharon's other source of happiness is that KC and Kiko have bounded like real daughter-father. KC, Sharon says genuinely happily, is an adoring step-daughter to Kiko.

"It's mutual," she laughs. "They adore each other. Sometimes nga, I'm jealous already. Like sometimes, there are things that she can tell Kiko that she can't tell me. They won't admit it, but it's true."

As for KC's relationship with her father Gabby, Sharon says she gives KC a lot of room on this one.

"They used to e-mail each other," says Sharon, turning a little more serious. "We don't stop her from communicating with her dad. I don't know if they've been e-mailing lately. She usually tells me naman e. She hasn't told me in a while, so..."

She adds: "Mahal naman siya ng Papa niya."

Of her own thoughts of Gabby, she says: Meron lang things na I would not do his way pero ganoon siya e. But you cannot fault someone the way he is. Malay mo kung sa'n galing yon, hindi naman ikaw 'yung nag-mold du'n sa tao. A lot of influences and experiences will mold the person, so you cannot judge. You know, ako, I've matured. I've forgiven Gab for every pain he has caused me. I wish him well. And also want him to find a good stepmother that my daughter will get along with."

"Gusto ko kapag nag retire na ako, maraming apo kaya gusto ko maraming anak. Para kapag may reunion, laging fiesta. If I give birth again, sana twins. Kahit quadruplets pa. I was already fulfilled before but when this baby came along, parang there's so much soul and everything. It's so much fun!"

Last April 28, Sharon and husband Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan celebrated their fifth anniversary as a couple. Looking back, Sharon can only laugh at herself.

"You know my prayer before? `Lord, ikaw na ang pumili, please," she rocks in laughter. "Okay lang sa akin kahit hindi na ako mag-asawa ulit, pero kung bibigyan mo `ko ng asawa, please, Ikaw ang pumili kasi `pag ako lang, naku, palpak! Laging hindi swak e."

When she was still looking for signs, she saw them all in one person. And that person happened to be Kiko.

"He's God-fearing;" she elaborates. "We have the same values and we're both close to our families. And you k now, when you're a good son or daughter and a good brother or sister, you will most likely be a good wife and mother or a husband and father, `di ba? I saw that in Kiko and I was not wrong."

Somewhere along the way, she also married his beliefs. That is why when Kiko decided to run for public office, Sharon did not hesitate to give him her full support.

"Me and Kiko, we take our being husband and wife very seriously," she says. "God gave us each other. I prayed a lot before I married him. So, it has to be for a reason."

Of course, the moment Kiko announced he wanted to run for a Senate seat, the brickbats came. Mainly they said that if Kiko had not been married to a Sharon Cuneta, he wouldn't even make it to the administration's senatorial list. And that he was pushing Sharon to support him on this.

"Alam n'yo, kahit hindi ako artista, susuportahan ko pa rin siya. Kahit siguro tumakbo lang `yan na presidente ng village association namin, susuportahan ko pa rin!" Sharon answers the talk directly. "Nagkataon lang, sorry na lang sa iba, na artista ako. Nagliligawan pa lang kami, nakadiyaryo na ang love life namin. At napaka...medyo... tanga na lang natin kung hindi pa natin ginamit `yang fact to make people aware of my husband and his credentials by way of my fans and people that know me."

She's on a roll now: "May mga opponent kasi si Kiko, walang magawa. Siguro intimidated sila sa alam nilang kakayahan ng asawa ko kaya pati akong asawa dinadamay na sa intriga. Same with Ate Vi. That's funny. Nakakatawa. Parang, ganu'n ba kayo kadumi maglaro? Na pati babae papatulan? That shows you kung anong klaseng kalaban sila.

The bottom-line, she says, is that if elected Kiko will perform well. "It's not how he got there," she says. "Unless `yung iba diyan, daya-dayain kami o ano."

Foul play with the counting, she admits, is what she fears most for Kiko.

"Mahirap kasi dito sa pulitika, parang when you're decent and you play according to the rules, and as much as possible all you want is to get your message across without having to say anything about other candidates... sometimes you really have to retaliate kasi inuunahan ka nila binabastos kana, sinisiraan ka nang hindi totoo.''

She now believes that compared to politics show business is tame ground.

"Kaya nga ngayon, masasabi kong mahal na mahal ko ang show business. Now that I know how dirty politics is."

There are only a few days left before election day and Sharon is doing everything to get people to know Kiko's name and credentials. "Even without him, I go."

Amazing wife indeed.